HRM: Chapter 5

Forecasting

The attempt to determine the supply of and demand for various types of human resources to predict areas within the organization where there will be labor shortages or surpluses.

Trend Analysis

Constructing and applying statistical models that predict labor demand for the next year, given relatively objective statistics from the previous year.

Leading Indicators

Objective measures that accurately predict future labor demand.

Transitional Matrix

A chart that lists job categories held in one period and shows the proportion of employees in each of those job categories in a future period.

Core Competency

A set of knowledge and skills that make the organization superior to competitors and create value for customers.

Downsizing

The planned elimination of large numbers of personnel with the goal of enhancing the organization's competitiveness.

Outsourcing

Contracting with another organization (vendor, third-party provider, or consultant) to provide services.

Workforce Utilization Review

A comparison of the proportion of employees in protected groups with the proportion that each group represents in the relevant labor market.

Recruiting

Any activity carried on by the organization with the primary purpose of identifying and attracting potential employees.

Personnel Policies

Decisions about how an organization will carry out its human resource management and fill job vacancies.

Employment at Will

An employment principle that if there is no specific employment contract saying otherwise, the employer or employee may end an employment relationship at any time, regardless of cause.

Due-Process Policies

Policies that formally lay out the steps an employee may take to appeal the employer's decision to terminate that employee.

Job Posting

The process of communicating information about a job vacancy on company bulletin boards, in employee publications, on corporate intranets, and anywhere else the organization communicates with employees.

Direct Applicants

People who apply for a vacancy without prompting from the organization.

Referrals

People who apply for a vacancy because someone in the organization prompted them to do so.

Nepotism

The practice of hiring relatives.

Yield Ratio

A ratio that expresses the percentage of applicants who successfully move from one stage of the recruitment and selection process to the next.

Cost per Hire

The total amount of money spent to fill a vacancy, computed by finding the cost of using a particular recruitment source and dividing that cost by the number of people hired to fill that type of vacancy.

Realistic Job Preview

Background information about a job's positive and negative qualities.